Submitting your thesis to ORA: Requirements

Current students must have been granted leave to supplicate following examination of their thesis to be eligible for deposit.

Theses should be deposited in good time (a minimum of five working days) in advance of graduation so that they can be processed by the ORA team.

Alumni and Oxford staff/researchers can deposit their thesis to ORA at any time.

The following conditions must be met in order to deposit your thesis:

• The degree for which your thesis was written is eligible for deposit (see: eligible degrees)
• The deposited file should be the final examined version as it was passed by the examiners with all corrections included (see: what to deposit)
• Inclusion of the thesis in ORA must not infringe copyright or any other rights including those rights of material included in the thesis where copyright is held by a third party. This is the responsibility of the depositor to check (see: copyright)
• The author must agree to the ORA deposit statement for theses
• A digital version of the thesis must be submitted by the depositor (ORA cannot offer a digitisation service at the present time)
• A thesis record, including the thesis abstract, will be created for your theses and made publicly available via ORA, unless specific dispensation has been granted (see: dispensation) 

Additionally, for current students:

• Any embargoes on access beyond 3 years must be approved by the supervisor or another appropriate person in the department which granted leave to supplicate.

For alumni and Oxford researchers/staff who graduated before the COVID-19 pandemic:

• A print copy of the thesis must have been deposited in the Bodleian Library

ORA reserves the right to refuse any item if any of these conditions are not met, or in any other exceptional circumstances.

Conditions regarding the deposit of physical theses to the Bodleian Libraries as detailed within the requirements surrounding a degree at Oxford have been changing. For information on physical theses deposit please see the section 'hard copy theses' and refer to the requirements of your degree.

Supplicate: Ask for a degree to be conferred at a degree ceremony.  E.g. candidates who satisfactorily complete a DPhil are granted ‘Leave to supplicate’, meaning they have passed.